April 30, 2019

"Stacey Abrams handed Chuck Schumer his most embarrassing recruiting fail of the cycle, leaving Georgia Democrats stuck with an assortment of second-tier candidates."

"Her decision is the latest in a string of high-profile Democrats who have rejected Schumer’s pitch out of fear of facing formidable Republican Senators next fall."

Said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Jesse Hunt, quoted in "Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams will not run for Senate in 2020" (WaPo).

78 comments:

Achilles said...

She knows she would lose.

djf said...

If Stacey Abrams is a first-tier candidate, I'd hate to see what sort of creature passes for second-tier.

YoungHegelian said...

Well, one of those "second-tier candidates" may actually turn out to be a decent candidate & maybe a decent senator.

Unlike Stacey Abrams, who gives new meaning to the phrase "the devil we know".

Lucid-Ideas said...

It's not too late for Mayor Buttgay to pack his carpetbag and head south. If the Dowager Empress of Chappaqua can set up in NY, he can go South.

He's not second-tier. He's a first-rate, second-rate candidate

Gunner said...

The Root will blame racist white people for this!

bleh said...

She knows she would lose.

Exactly. Her entire shtick now, the thing that keeps her in the media spotlight, is her cockamamie idea that the governorship is rightly hers and was somehow stolen from her. After all these months she still refuses to concede. Imagine if a Republican behaved like that.

If she were to run for Senate and was soundly defeated, that would be the end of her.

Nonapod said...

Who in recent months has said she also was considering a presidential bid, did not say in a video statement what her next political move would be.

Go for it. There's still plenty of room in the candidate clown car.

She did vow to continue her fight against voter suppression, which she has said was a factor in her gubernatorial race against Republican Brian Kemp

So is there any, like, actual proof of "suppression" or is it just a theory? Republican concerns about voter fraud are often dismissed as crazy conspiracy theories, but Dem claims of voter suppression are always taken as gravely serious.

gspencer said...

And she woulda given such heft to the Ds in the Senate. Along the contour lines of a Dixon Hall Lewis (D, Alabama, 1844-1848).

SDaly said...

Why should she run for Senate when she is the duly-elected Governor of Georgia?

Achilles said...

Running for president is easy money for a democrat.

Even socialist Bernie is getting in on using campaign contributions to buy his own books on how terrible capitalism is.

chuck said...

Stacey Abrams isn't second tier?

Bay Area Guy said...

Hopefully, she will run for President. There are too many old, straight, white males dominating the Democrat campaign.

JRoberts said...

My town in the south suburbs of Atlanta has two city council seats open this Fall, but Stacey would probably lose here also.

Seriously, David Perdue has been a pretty solid senator and while there is talk that he is vulnerable in 2020, I have a hard time believing the Dems will find someone who could beat him without cheating.

traditionalguy said...

Abrams has no chance running against a tsunami of Trump’s reelection turnout. Georgia is still MAGA country. She is young enough to await a better opportunity. And she is very smart.

Anonymous said...

She is young enough to await a better opportunity. And she is very smart.
------------------

Better not to run and still be considered a rising Democratic star...

Soon enough, all the follow0in-his-footsteps Barack Obama black candidates will all run, and lose. It will take more than one loss for them to absorb the message though.

Black skin ain't enough.
Not enough white liberals to elect you.

Anonymous said...

I think the Jussie Smollet case in Chicago put down the idea that most white voters are going to help put more black liberal leaders in power any time soon.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago? She's not a liberal. She's a clean-up Dem, now that the money is gone and the whites aren't voting for identity politics anymore. Barack and Rahm closed shop; the machine is broken. Rats flee as far as Milwaukee and Madison. Some seeking state employment.

Anonymous said...

chuck said...

Stacey Abrams isn't second tier?
------------------

Shh. We don't talk openly about the blacks and Jews anymore.
Special feelingz. We're told this protects them in the long run.

Henry said...

Said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Jesse Hunt

JRoberts said...

Eight years of Obama decimated the Dems "farm system"

As a result, they're having to elevate inexperienced unknowns like Beto, Mayor Pete and Abrams. That's forcing the aging Vietnam/Watergate era Dems to stay in office well beyond their "sell by" date.

eddie willers said...

is her cockamamie idea that the governorship is rightly hers and was somehow stolen from her. After all these months she still refuses to concede.

You are correct.

That attitude has ruined Georgia for her. Though we may laugh that Sherman was "careless with matches", he said he would make Georgia howl and boy did he ever. He whupped our ass and we recognized and even admired him for that.

We like winners and can't stand losers.

Seeing Red said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wwww said...

My Guess:

1) She's making a lot of $$ on her book and prefers speaking engagements to campaigning OR
2) She's running for Vice President.

TJM said...

Why would Schumer want to run an "Extra Wide?"

Mr Wibble said...

Eight years of Obama decimated the Dems "farm system"

As a result, they're having to elevate inexperienced unknowns like Beto, Mayor Pete and Abrams. That's forcing the aging Vietnam/Watergate era Dems to stay in office well beyond their "sell by" date.

4/30/19, 2:34 PM


This. Combined with the fact that those hardest hit were the "moderate" wing of the party representing the conservative blue-collar districts. The progressive wing of the party didn't really care, because they hated that wing of the party anyways, and figured that they didn't need them to win.

What we're seeing now is a beautiful civil war among progressives for control of the party.

Ken B said...

This is GOOD news for Democrats, and BAD news for republicans.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

She really wouldn't have time for that role, as currently she is going to be employed by football teams to use that gap between her buck teeth as goal posts for kicking field goals.

Real American said...

and give up that cushy job of pretend Governor of Georgia? No way!

rcocean said...

IF she's a strong Democrat Candidate, I'd hate to see the weak ones.

But we seem to have gotten to the point where the D's can elect idiots, crooks, liars, and fools. Melendez is convicted of bribery and freed on a technicality. Warren and Blumenthal are liars. Booker and Hirtano are fools. Durbin is a traitor. Schumer is a Stalinist.

Yet, all are Senators for life. Just don't give #Metoo a chance, and you can do anything as D Senator. As long as you follow the party line.

David Duffy said...

"Though we may laugh that Sherman was "careless with matches", he said he would make Georgia howl and boy did he ever. He whupped our ass and we recognized and even admired him for that."

Never heard this from a Southerner before. Men I knew from the South (mostly from the service) weren't keen on Sherman. Maybe times are changing. My IRA sympathetic Irish father was not too happy about me and the Mrs joining the Anglican Church. But, he came to our children's baptism and grudgingly liked Fr. Waddington.

gilbar said...

bleh said...
her cockamamie idea that the governorship is rightly hers and was somehow stolen from her.


Pro Tip: From Now On, AND FOREVER
Any, and EVERY Democrat that does not win; had what was rightly theirs somehow STOLEN from them.

Anthony said...

Achilles said...
She knows she would lose.


Or lose but really win.

Or win but really lose?

Something like that.

Bilwick said...

So "Tank" Abrams is in the FIRSR tier? The tiers ain't what they used to be.

Fat, stupid and collectivist is no way to go through life, lady.

TJM said...

traditionalguy,

You had me in your corner until you said she "is very smart." No discernible evidence of that, but plenty to suggest the contrary

wwww said...

Never heard this from a Southerner before.

This is the first time I've heard this from a Georgian who is over a certain age. One of my friends moved to Georgia from the midwest in Jr. High School. He admired Sherman and wrote about him for a school assignment. It did not go over well.

Michael K said...

Men I knew from the South (mostly from the service) weren't keen on Sherman.

Sherman was the South's best friend. He told them the truth and was willing to stay at the college that became e LSU but he said they were foolish to take on the Union and think they could win.

“You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing!

You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it …

Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors.

You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”
– William T. Sherman, letter to a Southern friend at the outset of the war


Better advice they never got. He had spent much time in the South, including Charleston and in Florida.

Michael K said...

As it happens, Sherman was the one who shut the door on them. If he had not taken Atlanta in 1864, they might have been able to negotiate an armistice with McClellan. Lincoln could have lost the 1864 election without Sherman and his maneuver warfare.

He was the first modern general.

Drago said...

"Her decision is the latest in a string of high-profile Democrats who have rejected Schumer’s pitch out of fear of facing formidable Republican Senators next fall."

LLR's and their far left allies hardest hit.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Michael K,

That is a great letter by Sherman. Superb.

YoungHegelian said...

The Alabama town I grew up in had quite a bit of Union supporters during & after the Civil War. Thus, the "old part of town" has streets named after Civil War generals both of the North & South (e.g. Lee & Grant Streets).

The town also has a Sherman Street, which I liked to joke that for a southern town to have a Sherman Street is like Vatican City having a Via Satana.

Yancey Ward said...

Well, I don't think Abrams could win the Senate race in Georgia after the way she has behaved for the last 6 months since the election in November. However, I think she plans to run for President. She would be serious sand into the DNC gears to have a clear winning nominee by the end of next May- I don't think Abrams has a prayer of winning the nomination, but as a candidate she would win a pretty sizeable chunk of delegates from the southern states alone that might well turn the convention into actual nomination event. She would kill Harris' campaign in the womb.

Jersey Fled said...

Please, Stacy, run for President. You've already got the "Republicans stole the election" thing down.

Fernandinande said...

but Dem claims of voter suppression are always taken as gravely serious

Their claims are false but internally consistent in that when they say "voter suppression", they mean "need an ID to vote" even though that's not voter suppression.

Marty said...

I realize I am old, crotchety, and despicable, but I can't listen to Abrams for more than a minute without wanting to hurl my dentures at the screen. The luridly different world she inhabits seems to be a hostile, victim-ridden place with a complete lack of self-awareness, not to mention self-responsibility. Why anyone would want to live there is beyond me.

Yes, yes, I know this could even apply to South Bend Buttigieg, but I haven't tried to listen to him.

cubanbob said...

Between Schumer and Abrams it's hard to see which is dumber and more pompous.

Michael K said...

That is a great letter by Sherman. Superb.

Sherman is a hero to me. I have half a dozen books about him including his Memoirs.

Joe Johnston, his opponent in the campaign from Chattanooga to South Carolina, was a pall bearer at his funeral. Johnston was old and not well but, when his aide warned him about the risk as the weather was bad, he answered "Sherman would do it for me."

He died a month later. Jefferson Davis fired Johnston because he could not stop Sherman. The Confederates did worse, so Davis put him back in command. Johnston said of Sherman's army, "There has been no such army since Julius Caesar."

rcocean said...

Southerners always whine about Sherman. But he did nothing against the rules of war. By today's standards, he was a pussy cat. He told the inhabitants of Atlanta they were in a war zone and had to leave. Those who wished to go North were transported free of charge (with baggage) as far as Louisville KY. Those who wished to go South were transported to Rough and Ready & handed over to Hood. They could bring their belongings and even "servants" as long as the Slaves were willing to go.

He burned few towns and houses in GA or NC. South Carolina was a different story.

Milwaukie guy said...

While I revere Sherman, I think, overall, Grant was superior. Grant created the army in the west, which was truly the best since Julius Caesar.

Grant is most remembered for the campaign of 1864 with the army in the east. The River Forts, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga campaigns in the West were great victories. 1864, which includes Sheridan in the Shenandoah, solved the problem of putting Lee in a box and doing it in about two months.

Sherman was brilliant too and his campaign post Savannah is often underrated.

Michael K said...

He burned few towns and houses in GA or NC. South Carolina was a different story.
<

He burned the homes of slave owners and the rich. He left the poor alone except his "bummers" took their crops.

Columbia SC was burned by the confederates although mostly by accident. They set fires to destroy stores but the fires spread.

rcocean said...

The real problem is the South was licked militarily in August 1864, but refused to fight or surrender. Hood ran away from Sherman. Lee stayed in his trenches. So, Sherman decided that Civilians would end the war, if they got a taste of evils of war.

Which is exactly what happened. After Lee surrendered, the rest of the South was ready to surrender. I have a book a plantation owner in GA, "Children of Pride". Its quite hilarious in a way. The wife and old man look upon with indifference at all the battlefield slaughter but are outraged when Sherman shows up and frees all their slaves without compensation. And takes firewood and food, without paying! And violates Private property! Outrageous!

rcocean said...

"Columbia SC was burned by the confederates although mostly by accident. They set fires to destroy stores but the fires spread."

That's what Sherman said. Hampton said it was the Yankees - as did William Gilmore Simms. Frankly, I'm not a fan of the "fire eaters" of South Carolina, so I don't care one way or the other.

Milwaukie guy said...

In a couple of accounts I've read, Sherman's army marched in three columns across South Carolina and kept track of each other by lighting groves of trees on fire.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Isn't that better than having a third-tier candidate?

rcocean said...

"In a couple of accounts I've read, Sherman's army marched in three columns across South Carolina and kept track of each other by lighting groves of trees on fire."

They also had to cut down lots of trees to corduroy the muddy roads. One remarkable thing about the march through SC was it was done with the rivers flooding and the roads full of mud.

John henry said...

Speaking of generals from the War Between the States, Biden voted to restore Robert E. Lee's citizenship back in the 70s.

It's gonna be fun to see what President Trump does with that.

Sherman's memoirs in 2 volumes is a pretty good read. Available through the portal. Though, since it is free, I don't know how much Ann makes.

John Henry

FIDO said...

After how close the last election was, there are a lot of people who are 'broken glass Republicans'.

And with the economy humming along and the Democrats saying boys are girls, whites are toxic, and socialism is great...there may be an 'anti Trump' set of Broken Glass Democrats.

This...is strongly offset by the people who...you know...have jobs! Who didn't have jobs for 8 years under Obama.

So the dynamic is a bit skewed. The Breathless Press only represent themselves anymore. And Inga. Can't forget Inga.

Skeptical Voter said...

Who ever thought that Stacy Adams was a first tier candidate? The only place where she might be first is in the chow line.

Skeptical Voter said...

Oops that's Stacy Abrams--the lady who never lost in her own mind. She's still first in the chow line.

rcocean said...

"Biden voted to restore Robert E. Lee's citizenship back in the 70s."

Yeah, and Biden would vote today to tear down every monument to Lee in the USA. And when asked about it, he'd say "That was then, this is now. I've grown on the issue, blah blah. Never realized what a sexist/bigot/homophobe Lee was" Like Gay Marriage, I've "Grown" over the years - unlike Trump.

You NEVER get anywhere by calling Liberals or Democrats hypocrites. They don't care. Its like calling them unprincipled.


Michael K said...

One remarkable thing about the march through SC was it was done with the rivers flooding and the roads full of mud.

That is what Johnston was referring to in his comments that there had been no such army since Caesar.

The Army of Sherman went right through the flooded swamps of South Carolina. He avoided Charleston where he had once lived and attacked Columbia, the capital which had started the war.

There are several versions of the story of the burning. Not too many Yankees cared much about it.

rcocean said...

Dumbo Republicans ALWAYS love the "KKK were all Democrats" and the "Confederates were all Democrats" and it wins them ZERO black votes. They don't care. Maybe it makes some old timey Moderate Republicans feel good.

rcocean said...

"The Army of Sherman went right through the flooded swamps of South Carolina. He avoided Charleston where he had once lived and attacked Columbia, the capital which had started the war."

Yes. I think the amazing thing about Sherman's March is that it had such an impact on the war, but it cost very few men. I don't think Sherman lost more than 15,000 men from November 1864 - April 1865. It was a brilliant piece of strategy and Grant/Halleck were reluctant to approve it.

Narayanan said...

CTH Sundance speculates she's now free to be Biden runningmate.

Michael K said...

It was a brilliant piece of strategy and Grant/Halleck were reluctant to approve it.

Grant had no problem,. He had left his logistical tail in the swamps east of Vicksburg so had no problems with the Georgia march.

Halleck was a fuddy duddy and back stabber, as Grant learned when he became chief of the army,

Sherman used maneuver to minimize casualties, which is why his men loved him. They called him "Uncle Billy" and were very proud.

He was called by Liddell Hart the first general to use the telegraph,

Narayanan said...

Southern attitude postbellum is remarkably how MSM behavior post Trump.

Southron is probably the term for it...
Historically, a person from the Confederate States of America.

Stacey Abrams has ssme attitude .

Did any black slave owners fight for the Confederacy?

Nancy said...

OMG! She "garnered national attention"!

wwww said...

Michael,
I've always loved that letter from Sherman. Believe he visited LA a few months before the war & attempted to convince secessionist sympathizers it was a bad idea. & those Sherman's neckties.

Halleck was good enough in the Dept. of the West. Not extraordinary, but he was good enough.

gilbar said...

Michael K said...
As it happens, Sherman was the one who shut the door on them. If he had not taken Atlanta in 1864, they might have been able to negotiate an armistice with McClellan. Lincoln could have lost the 1864 election without Sherman and his maneuver warfare.

People now a days don't realize how close the Union was to disintegration
If Atlanta had held on until November, the new President (McClellan) would have ended the war asap; and men wouldn't have been interested in fighting on until then. Fortunately, Jeff Davis listened to John Bell Hood, and fired John Johnston. (though, i think Sherman's Army of the Tennessee would have found a way in by November, anyway).

Milwaukie guy said...

Sherman was in Louisiana before the war helping to found a military academy.

The biggest difference between the eastern and western campaigns is that in the east the cockpit of the war was tiny and in the west there was a lot of room to maneuver.

Lincoln, Grant and Sherman. What a team!

gilbar said...

They also had to cut down lots of trees to corduroy the muddy roads. One remarkable thing about the march through SC was it was done with the rivers flooding and the roads full of mud.

Ten Miles A DAY! Making roads through the swamps, and over 50,000 men
Ten Miles A DAY!

The Army of the Tennessee basically walked from Memphis to Chattanooga to Atlanta to Savannah to Columbia to Goldboro NORTH CAROLINA, and were just a few weeks from Richmond when Lee Surrendered.
Then, after the war, the walked on to Washington DC for the parade. Those men could move!

Amadeus 48 said...

Since she thinks she is governor, maybe she can appoint herself to the seat.

eddie willers said...

Re: Sherman's letter.

I believe Margaret Mitchell must have read it as she puts these words into Rhett Butler's mouth at the party held at Twelve Oaks (the Wilkes Plantation) before the war began:

No, I'm not hinting. I'm saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we. They've got factories, shipyards, coal mines... and a fleet to bottle up our harbors and starve us to death. All we've got is cotton, and slaves and... arrogance.

Yancey Ward said...

I have never been convinced Lincoln was in danger of losing in 1864- with or without Atlanta being taken. I think, at best, McClellan wins New York and Pennsylvania otherwise- the rest of the states Lincoln won by a fairly wide margin.

Henry said...

Meanwhile Hood, who had an army that could have slowed Sherman's march, instead thought he could distract the Union by marching North instead. Not long after his army was destroyed at the battle of Nashville. By that point in the war, the Union had armies on top of armies. After the fall of Atlanta, Sherman could have taken his army on vacation to Paris and the Union would have still won the war.

traditionalguy said...

In 1864 the north very much wanted to stop the war. Grant had lost excessive casualties and then was blocked by the stalemate at Petersburg's trenches. After the so called Battle of Atlanta in July 24, which was the third attack by Hood on Sherman, with all three ending in a draw, General Sherman who had also lost big casualties was also blocked by a stalemate at Atlanta's system of trenches.

Brilliant Sherman seemingly treated from the Chattahoochee line, and swung 2/3rds of his Army west around Atlanta until he could attack the Macon RR at Jonesboro 20 miles south of Atlanta. That two day Battle on August 31 was the victory that made Hood abandon Atlanta on September 2nd and Sherman march in unopposed.

Gospace said...

Narayanan said...

Did any black slave owners fight for the Confederacy?


Don't know the answer to that.

But at least one army of Native Americans did. Not just a few Indians, but organized as an Army, with Cherokee Stand Watie, Brigadier General CSA, commanding the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi. Notably, he was the last CSA general to surrender.

Tina Trent said...

Stacey is raking in the bucks posing as a professional victim of racist voter suppression and white southerners.

It's a gig that GOPe elected officials like Nathan Deal can only sign on for after they have actually held office.

Basil Duke said...

Sherman loathed the Northern press as much as he did Southern slave owners. A wag once noted (I'm paraphrasing) that "a cat in hell without claws has nothing on a newspaper correspondent in Sherman's army."

Re: John Bell Hood's Tennessee campaign: Although it ended in utter ruin for the Confederate Army of Tennessee, Hood very nearly succeeded in bagging John Schofield's small army - which had been detached and sent north from Sherman's main force shortly before Sherman moved for the Atlantic Ocean. The inscrutable Rebel fiasco at Spring Hill enabled Schofield to slip past Hood and continue his desperate trek toward George Thomas at Nashville. The Battle of Franklin effectively destroyed Hood's command; the rout of the Southern army at Nashville two weeks later was inevitable.

Bill Peschel said...

BTW, there were black slave owners. You can buy them through the Althouse portal.

It may seem in retrospect that Lincoln would win in '64 without Sherman, but at the time it seemed like a very real possibility. That's the point to remember: hindsight is 20/20.